Installing and Configuring target iSCSI server on Windows Server 2012

iSCSI Software Target is now part of windows Server 8 Beta Roles and features, In this post i will walkthrough installing and configuring iSCSI software target.

Important Notes:

– iSCSI Target server now is integrated with Windows Failover clustering to provide HA for iSCSI target server, however in this post we will be  configuring a stand-alone iSCSI target server.

– Windows PowerShell can be used to install and configure iSCSI target server.

Environment details:

– Single iSCSI server IP address: 192.168.0.217

– File server “ServerA” IP address: 192.168.0.215

– File server “ServerB” IP address: 192.168.0.216

1. To install Windows server 8 iSCSI target open Server Manager and click Add Roles and Features then walkthrough the installation as per the below screenshots

2. After installation is complete successfully we will now configure the iSCSI target server as per the following

– We will have single VHD of 5 VHDs

– Access is allowed to two file server nodes

            o 192.168.0.215

            o 192.168.0.216

– Storage target name is File Server

To complete iSCSI target server the configuration go to Server Manager , click File and Storage Services then follow the screenshots below;

Go to iSCSI Virtual disks and click “Launch the New Virtual Disk wizard to create a virtual disk” and walk through the Virtual Disks and targets creation

3. To connect File Server nodes to iSCSI target open Server Manager click Tools and select iSCSI Initiator then proceed with the configuration as per the below screenshots

Now we open disk management to make sure that the disk is presented correctly

Repeat step 3 for the second file server node.